The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has registered 992 prospective voters in 23 countries beyond the borders of Namibia in the just-ended supplementary voters' registration process.

The supplementary voters' registration that ended last Wednesday was a forerunner to the Presidential and National Assembly (NA) elections, slated for 27 and 28 November this year.

The Deputy Director for Operations in the ECN, Theophilus Mujoro confirmed on Wednesday that the registration process abroad took place in 23 countries.

In the statement, the Acting Director of the ECN, Ananias Elago said this was the first time Namibians living abroad were allowed to register in the respective countries they are now residing in. This followed after Parliament amended the Electoral Act in September this year.Neighbouring Zimbabwe registered the most people at 257, followed by South Africa and Brazil with a total of 189 and 104 registrants, respectively.

Malaysia, Egypt and Nigeria registered the least people with five each, while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia, seven and nine people registered, respectively.

Other countries where Namibians living abroad registered are Angola (13), Austria (28), Belgium (35), Botswana (23), China (21), Cuba (60), France (12), Germany (24), India (20), Russia (26), Sweden (16), Tanzania (13), United Kingdom (33), USA (73) and Zambia (14).

“Considering the fact that many Namibians living abroad have already been registered during the previous voter registration processes, a higher number of voters abroad are expected to cast their votes come 13 November, when voting abroad is scheduled to take place”, Elago said.

(This is NOT the first time that voters outside the territorial waters of Namibia and abroad have been able to register for the country's Presidential and National Assembly Elections. Joram Rukambe, Director of Elections in 1999, together with the Commissioners of the ECN, took a similar decision then. That was known as as "Voters' Constituency 104"as there were 103 constituencies in Namibia at that time.)